News & insights

Northgate Public Services secures five year contract extension with the National Joint Registry

10 October 2016

Northgate Public Services (NPS) has been awarded an £8 million, five year contract to continue providing data solutions and services to the National Joint Registry (NJR), the world’s largest orthopaedic registry and a critical resource for improving health outcomes.

The contract was awarded by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) which hosts the NJR as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme.

Under the contract, NPS will support the capture and reporting of information about hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacement procedures and costs in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man.

By analysing data on the safety, effectiveness and performance of implants, the registry is helping improve global health outcomes. For example, in 2010 metal-on-metal ASR hip implants were subject to a worldwide recall following the publication of NJR implant performance data.

The contract continues NPS’ work over the last ten years working with and on behalf of the NJR. Now in its 13th year of reporting, the NJR has grown into a pioneering, internationally consulted database that is fostering dialogue between regulatory authorities, implant manufacturers, orthopaedic surgeons and the public.

The NJR contains information on over 2 million joint registry procedures with over 200,000 cases added each year.

“The National Joint Registry is a world leading resource for improving health outcomes for patients. As the profile of the NJR continues to increase, we are looking forward to continuing our work with Northgate Public Services and further building the registry over the next five years. We are also delighted to have retained the statistical analysis services led by the University of Bristol and in collaboration with a research team at the University of Oxford.

“With the continued support of NPS as the data management contractor for the NJR, we remain committed to improving the quality of our data to ensure the most robust evidence is available to monitor the performance of implants, the effectiveness of different types of surgery and to improve clinical standards — all with a sharp focus on patient outcomes.”

Need for the registry has increased in line with the UK’s ageing population. In the last six years alone there has been a 4% increase in hip replacements and a 10% increase in other joint replacements.

Richard Armstrong, Head of Health Solutions from Northgate Public Services said:

“It is a privilege to be working in an area where the UK leads the world. The NJR is a huge asset to the UK and is internationally recognised as a key evidence-base for health outcomes following joint replacement surgery. It is testimony to the NJR that the value of medical device registries is becoming widely recognised across the globe.

“The benefits of medical device registries are overwhelming. We firmly believe that all patients receiving an implantable medical device anywhere in the world should be afforded the benefit of knowing their device is being proactively monitored by a registry.”

NPS will continue to support the collection of relevant, high quality data in order for the NJR to highlight where outcomes at hospital and surgeon-level fall below an expected performance in order to allow prompt investigation. The collection of such data also ensures that accurate, robust evidence is available to support wider decision-making in regard to patient safety, standards in quality of care and overall cost effectiveness in joint replacement surgery. NPS will be working closely with the University of Bristol, with the support of researchers at the University of Oxford, who have been awarded the contract to undertake statistical analysis of NJR data.

The National Joint Registry (NJR) was set up in April 2002 by the Department of Health (DH) and Welsh Government following a National Audit Office report into a failing ‘3M’ hip implant. Northern Ireland joined the registry in 2013 and the Isle of Man in July 2015.